Pic story of ecological management at Datong Lake in C China

An aerial drone photo taken on April 11, 2024 shows the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai) 

Dongting Lake in central China's Hunan Province is the second-largest freshwater lake in the country. Located on the central region of the Dongting Lake, Datong Lake is known as "the heart of the Dongting". Due to disorder aquaculture development, the water quality of Datong Lake was once seriously deteriorated.

In January 2018, an aquatic vegetation planting project was launched in Datong Lake area, with a team from Wuhan University providing technical guidance. In order to support the comprehensive water environment management and ecological industry development of Datong Lake, a scientific workstation was established here in April 2019.

Li Yang, a postdoctoral fellow from Wuhan University, has been working at Datong Lake since 2018. While completing the project experiments, Li Yang and other stationed researchers also regularly monitor the water quality, vegetation and soil dynamics of the Datong Lake basin, laying a good scientific foundation for the next step of lake management.

Nowadays, the water quality of Datong Lake has seen significant improvement, and the coverage area of aquatic vegetation has stabilized at about 50,000 mu (about 3333.33 hectares). With the improvement of biodiversity, the ecosystem has developed steadily.

During the six years of work in lake management, Li Yang completed his doctoral project in Datong Lake and continued his postdoctoral research here. Over the years, he has been deeply involved in the local ecological governance and green development, witnessing an impressive transformation of Datong Lake.

An aerial drone photo taken on April 20, 2023 shows a view of Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

An aerial drone photo taken on April 20, 2023 shows a view of Datong Lake aquatic plants industrial demonstration park in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang (2nd L) checks the growth of aquatic plants at Datong Lake aquatic plants industrial demonstration park in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang (front) checks the growth of aquatic plants at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang checks the condition of aquatic plants at the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Liu Yuan, a doctoral candidate from Wuhan University, processes reagents at a laboratory in the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang (front) observes fish and aquatic plants at Datong Lake aquatic plants industrial demonstration park in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang processes reagents at a laboratory in the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

An aerial drone photo taken on April 12, 2024 shows aquatic plants at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

An aerial drone photo taken on April 20, 2023 shows workers collecting aquatic plants at Datong Lake aquatic plants industrial demonstration park in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang shows the aquatic plants at the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

An aerial drone photo taken on April 11, 2024 shows Li Yang processing mud samples extracted from the bottom of the Datong Lake at the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang checks the condition of aquatic plants at the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)

Li Yang checks the condition of aquatic plants at the workstation at Datong Lake in Yiyang, central China's Hunan Province, April 11, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Zhenhai)